As COVID-19 disrupted work across all industries, students were thrown into a new world of remote learning and cancelled summer opportunities. The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) has stepped in to answer the call and help them continue their critical hands-on learning with the new, Virtual Internship. The initiative centers around on-demand course content curated especially for undergraduate and graduate students, giving them access to the rich professional development experience typically achieved through an in person internship. The program culminates in live learning and interactive shadowing opportunities, matching students with industry leaders and practitioners to learn from the best and gain invaluable exposure to the full scope of design firm work. By presenting students with new ways of virtually exploring the design world, ASID is empowering the next generation of design leaders to continue their lifelong learning and engage with their future colleagues.

“It is vital that we continue to support students’ educational journeys,” explains ASID vice president, Member Experience, Kari Stringfellow. “ASID and our talented members have an obligation to share our wealth of knowledge with these aspiring designers. We hope that by taking them beyond traditional classroom learning with chances to explore professional skills like working in a team and pitching a project to clients, they will be fully prepared and excited for the next step in their careers.”

The Virtual Internship enables students to create their own, custom experience pulling from five key areas of study reflective of the skills acquired during a traditional design internship: Products, Materials, and Vendor Relationships; Current Issues and Opportunities; Teams and Roles; Project Phases and Process; and Portfolio Design and Development. Participants steer their own course through these categories; they can focus solely on one or dabble across all five. Students experience much of the same content as practitioners with on-demand programming from the ASID Academy. To close out the summer, the independent learning will be complemented by live, interactive sessions with leading practitioners, such as “ask the expert” panels and portfolio reviews. These live programs invite students into the world of practicing designers, gaining understanding of the ins and outs of working at a firm, from team meetings to project presentations and more. New content will be added in the coming weeks to create an even more dynamic experience for the participating students.

The ASID Virtual Internship is available exclusively to ASID Student Members. Thanks to its digital roots, students from across the country who may not typically have easy access to internship opportunities will be able to network and learn from their future peers.

For information on ASID student membership, visit www.asid.org/belong/student/benefits.